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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

II! 1 Nil HI II 111 111 III I III II 



002 841 656 8, 



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PRICE, S^ CENTS. 



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Apis© Instincts ami &mi#ra Hell: 



If $r 

:[IWraM and Ijatemafed, 



Upon a New Theory. 




D. L. ADAIR, Hawesville, Ky. 



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1872, 

PUBLISHED FOK THE ATJTHOK 



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-RO-BEIRT CLABKE & CO. 

No. 65 West Fourth Street, 

CINCINNATI. 



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Entered according 10 Act of CongresB, in the year 1K72. hy D. L. Adair, in the oflice of the Librarian of 
Congress, at Washington. 



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EXTRACTED AND COMB HONEY. 

It has been known for a long time that bees hived in a large box, or a bee-house, would 
continue to work year after year and seldom swarm out, and it was of course also known that 
they would store a great quantity of honey, but in a form that was unsuited to marketing. 

Since the introduction of the improved System of Bee Culture, many efforts have been made 
to take advantage of these facts in producing non-swarming hives, but all of them being based 
on erroneous conceptions of the causes producing these results, they have been failures. The 
addition to hives of extensive box room on the top, it was soon found, would not do it. The 
addition of boxes on the side, while it produced better results, failed to prevent swarming. The 
introduction of the Melextractor caused many bee-keepers to do away with boxes, and instead 
give additional room in the hive for frames, without separating them from the brood-nest. This 
has a great tendency to prevent swarming, but does not do it entirely, from the fact that the con- 
tinued handling of the comb frequently produces disorganization, resulting in abnormal action 
on the part of the bees, and is the source of swarming, besides which, hives so constructed do not 
conform to the requirements of the bees. 

If bee-keeping is to be made a success, it will not be accomplished by the use of the Honey 
Emptying Machine. Its limited use has already so depreciated honey that it is difficult to find 
a market for it at one-third the price of comb honey. In the condition of strained honey, it is 
necessarily brought in competition with the cheap syrups, not only from the sugar cane of the 
South, but of the Northern productions from sorghum, beets, and Indian corn, and when pro- 
duced in such quantities, as it can and will be, will sink to their level or one-fourth its present 
meager price, while nice box honey in small packages will always find a ready market at a price 
that will be more remunerative than any production that is secured with so little labor to the 
producer. 

The hive I now present has overcome all of the difficulties, as it gives the bee-keeper perfect 
control of the swarming impulse of the bees, gives them ample room to employ all the force of 
the hive, and has the surplus stored in cakes, each perfect in itself, that weigh from one and 
one-half to five pounds, as desired, that when taken out of the hive can be formed into attractive 
packages of any required size, ready for the market, and always command more per pound, over 
and above ordinary box honey, than can be obtained for a pound of extracted honey. 



TO BEE-KEEPERS USING- THE LANGSTROTH, OR OTHER SIMILAR FRAME 

HIVES. 

In order to enable all to secure the benefits of the "New Idea" Hive, I will furnish them 
with sample Langstroth hives or those of similar construction, arranged, for frames in the cen- 
ter, and the ends filled out with my section honey boxes, with a right to use the honey boxes 
on any hive, for $10, or full directions for constructing their hives so as to add the honey boxes, 
with sample honey box of twenty to twenty-four sections that will hold thirty to forty pounds of 
honey properly arranged for being added to such hives, for §5. In sending orders it will be 
necessary to send the exact size of the frames used, and also the exact width and depth of the case, 
so that the boxes may be made to fit. The hive I send can have the bees put into it by simply 
removing the frames, bees and all, to it from the old case. 



PROGRESSIVE BEE CULTURE. 



BEE-KEEPING TWENTY YEARS AGO. 

The revolution which is now so rapidly taking place in the science of 
Apiculture, is as wonderful as unexpected. Twenty years ago, when the 
movable comb system was first introduced, those who adopted it thought they 
had reached perfection ; and. when Mr. Colvin stated, in the Patent Office 
Keport for 18 , that he had no doubt that an apiary might be made to yield 
fifty pounds of honey to each hive, but few believed it. 

AND NOW. 

Since that we have been progressing ; slowly it may be, but certainly pro- 
gressing, for by the use. of the new appliances and the development of new 
facts, large apiaries have been made to yield an average of several hundred 
pounds, while single colonies have produced from 500 to 700 pounds. 

ONE THOUSAND POUNDS AVERAGE. 

At the meeting of the North American Bee-keepers Society, in December, 
1871, one member offered to sell a large number of hives, to be paid for only 
on condition that he should, during the season of 1872, take ten colonies con- 
taining a quart of bees each, and from them secure 10,000 pounds, or at the 
rate of 1,000 pounds to each hive. 

WHY NOT ALL? 

If a single colony of bees can produce 500 to 1,000 pounds why should not 
all ? In a year equally favorable, we can not see any reason to prevent, except 
the difference in management. 

The revolution that Dzierzon initiated, when he constructed the movable 
bars, is still going on, and will only be complete when every healthy colony of 
bees is made, by intelligent management, to produce the maximum yield, 
whether that be 500 or 5,000 pounds. 

HOW IS IT TO BE ACCOMPLISHED? 

The important question will suggest itself to. all, " How is it to be accom- 
plished?" In general terms we may answer by saying: By a thorough 
understanding of the laws governing the actions of the honey-bee, and the 
adoption of such intelligent management as shall take advantage of those 
laws, which are as unvarying as the laws governing any of the forces of 
nature. Were it otherwise, we would have no confidence in bee culture ever 
being a success. 



Progressive Bee Culture. 



BEES NOT ENDOWED WITH REASON. 

It will not do for us, when we fail to understand why bees act in a certain 
way, to say they do so from an exercise of reason. If we establish that 
they possess an intellect " only differing in degree" from man's, as some, even 
eminent naturalists, assert, we immediately make them as uncertain in their 
actions as men, and as unmanageable. If we endow them with sympathies 
and sentiments, as many of our teachers do, who indulge more in imagination 
than reason, when dealing with the hidden laws of bee life, we but repeat the 
old superstitions that for centuries formed the basis of bee-keeping, and at 
once clog the wheels of progress. Eational bee culture does not mean 
endowing insects with reason. 

EDUCATING BEES. 

Once establish that bees can be educated, and you admit that they can learn 
wrong as well as right, and that they have eaten of " the tree of the knowl- 
edge of good and evil," and we fear that their depravity would take as deep 
root as Adam's, which all the teachings of inspiration has failed to root out 
from his descendants; for it will only be at the millenium that human society 
will be made as harmonious as we now find that of the bee. 

LAWS OF DESIGN. 

When the lightning descending from the clouds selects the metal rod as 
its path, in preference to the broader brick or wooden wall of the house, no 
one thinks of attributing a discretion to the electric fluid ; when bodies act 
chemically on each other and form crystals as perfect as the cells of the bee's 
comb, no one thinks of attributing to them reason ; but all can see in such 
things proof of design in their creation, and comprehend what the Creator 
meant when he pronounced " all he had made very good." 

BEES GOVERNED BY IMMUTABLE LAWS. 

The evidences of design are not less perfect in the regular workings of the 
honey-bee. They are all reducible to certain rules that are as unvarying as 
the laws governing the mathematical sciences, for it is but reasonable to con- 
clude, from the known regularity of such of their peculiarities as we have 
been able to comprehend, that such as have been considered so irregular as to 
induce the belief that they were the result of reason, are governed by the 
same immutable laws. 

THE QUEEN NO QUEEN AT ALL. 

We find in every normal colony of bees, one bee called generally a queen, 
a name we consider unfortunate, as it conveys a wrong impression of the 
offices she performs in the hive. She is simply the mother bee, with no 
attribute of royalty, and exercises no control over anything therein. 

EGGS. 

She has certain organs called ovaries, in which eggs are produced in a man- 
ner not substantially different from the seeds in the capsules of the poppy, or 
in the fruit of the tomato. Under certain conditions the eggs grow, and when 



Progressive Bee Culture. 



perfected in sjze and elements, they are cast off like seeds and are ejected into 
the cells. If the queen is perfect she has a little sac, which has been named 
spermatheca, in which is contained the seminal fluid. The eggs, when being 
laid, in passing its mouth absorb small particles or filaments of this fluid, 
through minute holes, and are thus said to be fecundated. In a normal colony 
such eggs always produce worker bees, and, although from the same eggs 
queens may be produced, it is only done when there is some derangement 
in the proper balance of the hive, and consequently is abnormal. 

DRONES AN ABNORMITY. 

If, from any cause, the eggs fail to be fecundated, they produce drones. 
The production of drones is always the result of an imperfect action of the 
organs of reproduction in the queen, and is an abnormity. It may result 
from several causes. If the queen fails to be fertilized, she may lay eggs and 
produce drones. When a queen gets so old that she loses her vigor, or the 
sperm sac is exhausted, she lays drone-producing eggs. Experiment has 
proven that if a queen be subjected to severe cold so that she is chilled, the 
result will be the production of unfecundated eggs. Other slight bodily 
injuries to the queen often produce the same result. 

GENERAL CAUSE OF PRODUCTION OF DRONES AND QUEENS. 

These are physical causes that pertain to the queen alone. The most general 
cause pertains to the whole colony, and is the result, as in the production of 
queens, of some derangement in the proper balance of the hive; and the same 
abnormal condition that causes the laying of drone eggs is always soon fol- 
lowed by an attempt to produce queens. In the spring of the year the queen 
is excited to laying, in proportion to the honey supply and the increase of 
temperature in the atmosphere. "When honey becomes abundant in the fields, 
worker brood is matured rapidly, and the hive is soon filled with young 
bees, whose peculiar office it is to feed the larvte in the cells, and also the queen. 
The hive is rapidly filled with honey, and consequently the laying room is 
contracted at a time when it should be enlarged to accommodate her increased 
prolificness ; and she finds herself suddenly deprived of cells in which to deposit 
the fast accumulating eggs. The result is a physical derangement of the re- 
productive organs, and consequently drone eggs, which she is compelled to lay 
in the drone cells, if there be any in the hive. 

The laying of drone eggs by the queen is nearly always followed by the 
building of queen cells. The Baron Von Berlepsch says : "When the queen 
deposits male eggs at unusual times, they (the workers) construct queen cra- 
dles and raise young queens." [Am. Bee Gazette, vol. i., p. 87.) He should 
not have qualified the assertion by saying "at unusual times." 

LAYING WORKERS. 

Drones are sometimes produced in a still more abnormal manner. A colony 
deprived of their queen, with no eggs from which to produce another, never 
fail so far as our observation has extended, to produce what are called " lay- 
ing workers." They are the ordinary workers of the colony, and do not differ 
from them physically, in any respect. All worker bees have ovaries, like the 



4 Progressive Bee Culture. 

queen, though not so fully developed, and also a seed pouch, or sperm sac, 
which is shriveled and aborted ; and although they can not be fertilized, and 
consequently their eggs can not be fecundated, they can, under certain circum- 
stances, lay eggs; or, we should say, eggs are developed in their ovaries, and 
deposited in the cells in the same manner that the queen does it. 

PLEBISCITE. 

"We are told by apicultural authors, that the colony, finding itself hopelessly 
queenless, hold an election, or, by some kind of resolution or agreement, elect 
one of their number as queen, and that she assumes the reins of government ; 
but, not being of the "royal blood," or "blood royal," as some call it, she can 
only be the mother of common people like the drones. (Why she is not of 
the same blood as the queen we have failed to see.) 

WHY WORKERS LAY EGGS. 

A little deeper study into the peculiarities of insects, and bees in particular, 
would doubtless give us a very different explanation of this apparent anom- 
aly. Certain of the young bees, at a certain stage of their existence, supply 
the queen with the proper food for the development of eggs, prepared simi- 
larly, if not identically, as they prepare it, by partial digestion in their stom- 
achs, for feeding the embryo queen in the cell. "When the colony becomes 
queenless, and there are no eggs or larvae out of which to rear queens, they fail 
to have any place to deposit it, and perhaps feed it to some of the workers; 
or, if compelled to disgorge it, some of the workers eat it, and such of them as 
have their ovaries the most perfect are thus stimulated to the production of 
eggs, and, not being fecundated, they produce drones. There is no reason why 
the drones thus produced should not be as perfect as if produced by a queen. 

PARTHENOGENESIS, AND AGAMIC REPRODUCTION. 

The fact that living animals could be produced without the intervention of 
the male, is not confined to the honey-bee, but is known to be the case with 
many species of insects, and is very common among radiates, worms, and 
crustaceans. Leuckart has given this mode of generation the name of Par- 
thenogenesis, and it is also known as agamic reproduction. It is a kind of 
budding process, analogous to the production of plants from buds without the 
intervention of seeds. The propagation of the strawberry and raspberry is 
agamic, as is also the potato, one species of lily, and one variety of onion. 
In fact, all buds are perfect infant plants, but those we have named multiply 
themselves agamically . 

ALL EGGS ARE BUDS. 

All eggs are buds, and it is not strange that they should be governed by the 
same laws that govern the vegetable bud ; and there is no reason why the same 
budding process in the less perfectly developed worker bee should not produce 
as perfect a drone as in the queen bee. This theory also accounts for the anom- 
alous fact, discovered by Dzierzon, that a pure Italian queen crossed with a 
common, or black bee, would produce Italian drones; while her female, or 
worker, progeny would be hybrid. 



Progressive Bee Culture. 



LAW OF VEGETABLE REPRODUCTION. 

This law of reproduction in vegetables is taken advantage of by our 
nurserymen and gardeners in propagating desirable varieties of fruits, flowers, 
and vegetables, the bud always reproducing the same variety, while the seeds 
are liable to be crossed, and are not reliable. 

A NORMAL COLONY OF BEES. 

A perfectly balanced, normal colony of bees consists only of a queen and 
workers ; and so long as that balance is maintained, there is no necessity for 
any other members being added. 

ANOTHER FACT. 

Another fact of great importance is, that so long as the balance is perfect 
no drone-comb will be constructed by the bees, nor will any queen cells be 
commenced. 

AND STILL ANOTHER. 

And we venture to assert another fact, that in such a colony the bees can 
generate wax and construct comb as rapidly as it is needed for the brooding of 
the queen and the storing of honey. 

PERFECTION NOT ATTAINED. 

With our present knowledge of the habits and instincts of the bee, we 
admit that such perfection is seldom reached in the management of bees, but 
we are sanguine in the belief that it can be attained. To do so will require 
that we should be thoroughly, intimately, and correctly informed of the 
natural laws governing all the operations of the hive, and of the offices per- 
formed by all its inmates. 

WORKERS IN CLASSES. 

"We have spoken of workers collectively, as if they were all alike in 
capacity, when the fact is that they are naturally divided into classes, each 
class adapted to certain work, which the others are as incapable of perform- 
ing as if they were different insects; and when we speak of a perfectly 
balanced colony we mean one in which there is the proper proportion of each 
class to do all the work necessary in its department at the proper time, to 
chime in with, and harmonize with the labors of the others. 

A PERFECT COLONY OF BEES. 

A natural prime swarm is, as a rule, a perfect colony; and if furnished 
with a hive that is perfectly adapted to their wants and properly managed, 
will continue so. In order, therefore, to see in what perfection consists, it is 
necessary that we consider the bees from the swarm to the time that the 
comb system is completed, and through all their works. 

A NATURAL SWARM. 

If we hive a natural swarm of bees in an empty hive, of such construc- 
tion that we can observe and closely watch their work, we find that they sus- 
pend themselves from the top of the hive, or chamber, in which they are 



Progressive Bee Culture. 



placed, in as compact a form as possible, appearing as an inverted cone; but, 
in reality, the true, efficient, active force is composed of bees in the shape of a 
sphere, or ball, the bees, forming the inverted base, being stationed in that 
position for the purpose of suspending the true cluster. 

A LIVING HIVE. 

By a close observation we will find that the outside bees of the cluster are 
not a part of the active force, but form a crust, inclosing the active cluster; 
in fact, they and the suspending bees form a natural hive, inside of which the 
organized forces are working. By taking a small stick or wire, and passing 
it horizontally and suddenly through the middle of the cluster and letting all 
below it drop, we can, by looking quickly, see that the solid wall of bees is 
not exceeding an inch and a half in thickness, while inside it is not at all 
crowded, but that there is a hollow about three inches in diameter, and no 
more bees inside of it than can work on the new comb structure. 

HOW THEY COMMENCE. 

They commence working, at the point where the circumference of the hol- 
low sphere touches the top of the hive, by forming a narrow neck of comb, at 
first not more than three or four cells wide. This they carry down, slowly 
widening, but rapidly lengthening, until they reach a point exactly at the 
center of the hollow. Here they establish a center from which they work. 
Cells are built in a circle around this center, and it soon becomes the widest 
part of the comb; but as it widens and thickens it gets heavier, and would 
break down if the stem were not strengthened, so that it gradually widened, 
until the comb at the center is about three inches wide, when the neck is 
equally widened. 

HOW THEY PROGRESS. 

The edges of the comb now touches the inside of the crust, and the crust 
recedes. Just at this time two parallel sheets of comb are begun, as before, 
and are run down opposite the center. 

HONEY STORING. 

When the first cells on the stem are about one-eighth of an inch deep, the 
bees begin to place honey in them, and continue to fill them as they are 
built up, until they get within one or 'two inches of the center ; below that 
they place no honey. 

THE QUEEN STARTS HER BROOD-NEST. 

But as soon as the central cell is one-eighth of an inch deep, the queen lays 
an egg in it. She then goes around on the opposite side, and lays eggs in the 
three cells that are built from the base of the central one. She then returns 
and deposits eggs in the six cells surrounding the first one, and continues to 
keep the cells on both sides filled with eggs, as fast as they are ready to 
receive them, thus establishing the center of her brood-nest, at the center of 
the comb structure, and when the comb on each side of the first is brought 
down opposite the center, she embraces them in her circuit, thus giving her 
brood-nest a globular form. 



Progressive Bee Culture. 



THE HONEY DOME. 

The honey storing bees keep the store cells above filled with honey down to 
the brood. As the sheets of comb are widened they come down lower, and as 
each additional comb-sheet is built they occupy more of it, thus storing the 
honey in an arch or dome over the brood. 

BROOD-NEST LIMITED. 

The work thus progresses and will continue in the same order for twenty- 
one days, if the space be large enough; at which time the brood-nest attains 
its full size, for, at the expiration of that time, the cells in the center, first 
filled with eggs, are vacated by the maturing bees, and the queen returns to 
the center to refill them with eggs; and as they are emptied in the same rota- 
tion in which they were filled, she continues to follow them up, going over the 
same ground every twenty-one days. 

COMB BUILDING UNLIMITED. 

The completion of the brood-nest does not stop the comb-building. That 
continues as rapidly as ever, but as it is not filled with eggs by the queen, the 
honey-gatherers keep it filled with honey, thus surrounding the brood with 
honey. 

ALL WORKER COMB. 

Let us now examine the comb that has been constructed, and we find that 
all of the cells embraced in the brood sphere, are of a regular size, and is all 
worker comb. The cells in the upper part, filled with honey, are most likely 
a size larger, and frequently irregular. So far there is no drone comb. 

BEE-BREAD. 

Around the brood-nest on every side, and below, there is found a border of 
cells that are neither filled with brood nor honey, but are partly filled with 
bee-bread. 

THE QUEEN ON HER CIRCUIT— YOUNG BEES. 

Let us again accompany the queen on her circuit, and note what occurs. 
The first bees that emerge from the cells, remain on the sheets of comb that 
reared them. For three days they eat nothing. Their alimentary organs are 
not matured, although their stomachs are filled with food which they received 
in the larval state. A part of this is taken up by the circulation, and is used 
in completing their internal organism. 

EGGS HATCH IN THREE DAYS— HOW LARV/E ARE FED. 

At the end of three days, the eggs laid in cells from which they came, 
hatch, and the young bees disgorge the remaining contents of their stomachs 
into the cells as food for the young larvae. They then begin to eat the bee- 
bread that we have said is placed around the brood-nest on all sides, which is 
taken into their stomachs, and after being partially digested, is given to the 
larvae. For about four days or a little longer, they continue to feed the larvae; 



8 Progressive Bee Culture. 

their growth being then completed, the nurse bees begin to eat honey spar- 
ingly, and become wax-makers. 

WAX-WORKERS. 

The bee-bread and honey they consume is no longer disgorged as food for 
the larvae, but is thoroughly digested, and in the laboratory of their stomachs 
is changed into wax, which is secreted in glands (perhaps), from which, as it 
hardens, it finds its way into the wax-pockets under the abdomen. The first 
formed is perhaps used to cap over the larva? they have been nursing. This 
period does not necessarily limit the capacity of the young bees as nurses, but 
it is probable that they can perform that office as long as they continue in 
their adolescent state, and are eaters of bee-bread, but the food not given to 
the larvae is converted into wax. 

COMB-BUILDERS. 

As the wax accumulates on them, they gradually, following the course of 
the queen, recede from the center, and find room on the outskirts of the comb- 
structure for depositing their wax. 

HONEY-GATHERING AND OLD AGE. 

The bees that have been comb-building up to this time, pass out into the 
fields as gatherers of honey, to be stored in the comb as built by the new wax- 
workers; the latter, after passing their allotted time in that mechanical labor, 
in turn becoming honey-gatherers, and after laboring in the fields for about a 
month, and performing duty as crust bees, die of old age. 

THE LIFE OF A BEE. 

We thus see that there is a perfect system governing the work of the bee ; 
that, contrary to former notions, which supposed that the different offices of 
the bee were directed, as a system of police in a government, by a head, and 
were executed by the exercise of reason and discretion, they are involuntary, 
and each bee in succession performs all the duties. As it increases in age, it 
is crowded outwardly by the development of others in the center. From a 
nurse in the brood nest, its labors are first transferred to the wax structure; 
thence to the gathering and storing of honey ; and when it is no longer of use 
as a productive agent, it takes its place in the living wall that protects what 
it can no longer produce, and finally is cast off like the withered leaf. 

EFFECTS OF WANT OF ROOM. 

So far, we have gone n the supposition that there was room for the bees to 
extend their work in every direction, except up. But as that is seldom the 
case with the bees in hives, let us consider the effect of a failure of room in 
any direction. We have said that when the cluster is first formed, a part of 
the bees form a living hive or crust around the hollow in which the first work 
is done, and that as the comb-building progresses they recede before it. This 
they continue to do, swelling out like an India rubber balloon as it is inflated 
with air, always encompassing the comb. They are the hive proper. The 



Progressive Bee Culture. 



bees claim no occupancy of any other part of the hive, be it large or small, 
than is inclosed inside of this globular crust. 

THE HORNET'S NEST. 

This living crust has its analogy in other hymenopterous insects — for 
instance, the papery nest-covering around the brood-nest of the hornet 
( Vespa Crabro), which, simultaneously with the building of the first brood- 
cells, has its commencement, and soon assumes the shape of a globe surround- 
ing the cell-structure of the nest. As the number of galleries and additional 
comb is built, it is enlarged until, from a ball the size of a boy's toy, it attains 
near a foot in diameter. The hornet, not being accompanied by a host of 
animals out of which to form a living wall, nature provides an instinct to 
produce a substitute in the paper crust that protects the nest. 

MORE ROOM. 

We will now suppose the bees to be placed in a hive ten inches deep, thir- 
teen inches wide, and two feet long, and that the cluster is formed in the center 
of it each way. In an ordinary sized swarm, the brooding-center will be 
placed three and a half inches below the top; and if the comb be built across 
the hive, it will be equidistant from the sides and bottom, so that when the 
first sheet of comb is extended six inches from the center each way, it will 
have reached within one-half inch of the sides and bottom, which is as near 
as the bees will approach with brood-comb to a solid wall. The store-comb 
above will be joined to the sides. 

THE CRUST GIVES WAY. 

The crust, having receded to the wall and bottom, gives way and is broken; 
but as the solid walls and bottom of the hive take its place, no harm is done. 
Lengthwise of the hive the circle has been maintained, and the eighth and 
ninth sheets of comb have been commenced, which are twelve inches apart. 
Around them the crust is maintained. The cluster can extend no farther lat- 
erally, and is forced out toward the ends. The cluster is divided into two 
hemispheres, and the work extends toward the ends of the hive, pushing them 
before it. 

CRACKS AND HOLES. 

If there are any cracks or openings in the evacuated territory too small for 
a bee to pass through, they are carefully stopped up with propolis, as to leave 
them behind would disorganize the harmony of the operation. If large 
enough for a bee to pass through, a part of the crust bees are left to stop them 
with their bodies, many of them passing to the outside. If there are holes in 
the ceiling or top of the chamber, they are managed in the same way. 

THE HIVE FILLED. 

Thus the work progresses, until the hive is filled with comb, brood, and 
honey, the crust finally giving way, and leaving none thus engaged except 
such as are guarding the openings. 



10 Progressive Bee Culture. 

BEES IN THE HONEY-BOXES, AND "HANGING OUT." 

Then, if there be honey-boxes on top of the hive, many of them will pass 
into them ; others will be forced out at the entrance-holes, and " hang out," 
as it is called. The wax-workers, having no further work, follow them, and 
when enough join them in the boxes, they suspend themselves to the top and 
reorganize as 

AN INDEPENDENT CLUSTER 

in each box, and go to work as they did in the beginning, the same process 
of comb-building being repeated in miniature by each cluster, with this dif- 
ference, that, the queen being left in the brood-nest below, the cells are not 
filled with brood, but are occupied with honey. Each cluster being small and 
disconnected, the whole of them fail to progress as rapidly as they did in the 
continuous chamber; 

THE UNITY OF THE HIVE IS BROKEN UP, 

The equilibrium is destroyed, and many disastrous results ensue. 

MORE ROOM GIVEN. 

Now, suppose we add to the length of the hive two feet more ; we thus give 
the bees room to continue their work, but we find that if the entrance is at one 
end and we place the addition at the other, we only partially remedy the 
defect. If we push back the full sheets of comb and make the addition 
between them and the entrance, the remedy is complete, but it is better to 
make half of the addition to each end. as that retains the brood-nest in the 
center and enables the bees to continue their work in both directions. 

WHEN AND HOW. 

To illustrate our theory we have supposed the hive to be only two feet long 
at first, and watched the bees until they filled it and became disorganized. 
This would not be the proper course in managing them. The additional room 
should be given before the hive is entirely filled, and never, under any cir- 
cumstances, should the bees be permitted to fill out to either end, for if they 
do, the harmony is interrupted, and if it continues, even for a few days, it will 
result in the beginning of queen-cells, and room given afterward will not 
always prevent swarming. 

A HIVE TEN INCHES DEEP. 

"We have given the depth of the hive at ten inches, for the reason that with 
that depth we have secured the best of results ; but, without proper manage- 
ment, we find that however much room may be given, laterally, disorgani- 
zation will ensue, and the normal balance will be disturbed; to account for 
which it is necessary for us to notice another peculiarity of the bee, in con. 
structing and renewing its brood-nest. 

A HIVE THREE FEET DEEP. 

To make it plain, we will suppose that the swarm was put in a hive that 
was three feet high and fourteen inches square. "We find that they will com- 



Progressive Bee Culture. 11 

mence and carry on their operations from the top, as we have described in the 
horizontally long hive, for twenty-one days, or until the first brood matures. 
At the end of that time the central sheets of comb will have been extended 
down below the first brood. 

QUEEN ALWAYS OCCUPIES THE BOTTOM OF THE COMB. 

The queen will, in refilling the cells with eggs, lower her center and recede 
with her brood-nest so as always to occupy the bottom of the comb with it; 
the honey-storing bees filling the upper vacated cells with honey as the brood- 
nest sinks, so that when the hive is finally full of comb, the globular brood- 
nest is at the bottom, and the upper part of the hive is filled with stores. 

BROOD CROWDED OUT BY HONEY. 

In a hive only ten inches deep, the queen is necessarily confined to her first 
brood-nest, for as soon as it is fully occupied and once filled, the comb all 
around it is filled with honey and bee-bread, and if honey is very abundant in 
the flowers they will soon begin to encroach on the brood-cells, filling them 
with honey, and to that extent contracting the queen's brooding room. 

THE REMEDY. 

This is easily remedied, by at least once in every three weeks inserting in 
the center of the brood-nest at least three empty sections (or frames) to be 
filled with new comb ; to make room for which the brood-chamber should be 
separated in the middle and pushed apart so as to admit them. The bees will 
rapidly fill them with comb, and the queen will occupy it with eggs. It is 
better to insert one section each week, than to put in all at once; but, when 
time is important, they can all be given at once, each time the brood-nest is 
filled. 

From the theory here proposed it can be easily seen : 

UNCERTAINTY OF FORMER DEVICES. 

First. Why all bee-hives heretofore used, that required the surplus honey 
to be stored in apartments separated from the brood-chamber, have been so 
uncertain in their results. 

LOSS BY SWARMING. 

Second. Why bees in such hives swarm just at the time when honey is most 
abundant, and thereby lose the best part of the honey season. 

WHY ATTEMPTS TO CONTROL SWARMING FAIL. 

Third. Why all attempts at controlling swarming, either by the manipula- 
tion of the hive or its size, have been failures. 

THE MELEXTRACTOR OVERRATED. 

Fourth. Why hives that were constructed for the purpose of using the mel- 
extractor, produce such enormous yields, which has been erroneously attributed 
entirely to the use of that machine. 



12 Progressive Bee Culture. 

DRONES AGAIN. . 

Fifth. "Why such quantities of drones are raised in hives. 

SPACES BETWEEN AND AROUND FRAMES OBJECTIONABLE. 

Sixth. It will show that all hives that " have spaces between, around, or over 
the frames" are objectionable, as they require the maintenance of an extra 
force of crust bees to secure and keep up the normal temperature and dryness 
necessary to brooding, and are the constant source of disturbance of the equilib- 
rium of the colony. 

EMPIRICISM IN BEE CULTURE. 

Seventh. It will show that what has been called scientific bee culture, is 
founded on empiricism, having isolated facts, and many of them false, for its 
basis, and what has been called a system is no sytem at all — the Dzierzon 
theory, upon which it is founded, being merely the discovery of a series of 
facts that, while true in the main, have been imperfectly understood, and 
attributed to wrong causes. 

A FALLACY POINTED OUT. 

Eighth. It will show the fallacy of that almost universal sentiment that 
attributes reasoning faculties to an insect, as on any other theory than this, we 
are compelled to do, to account for many actions of the bee, but when all of 
its irregularities can be accounted for as the result of fixed laws, such as we 
have tried to discover and point out, it is no longer necessary for us to show 
our Own ignorance by attributing superior intelligence to the bees. 

EXPERIMENTS AND RESULTS. 

In the course of the investigations that have led me to the foregoing conclu- 
sions, I have experimented with almost every plausible hive that has been 
presented; and finding none of them unobjectionable, I attempted to construct 
a hive that would not do violence to the nature and instincts of the bee. The 
final result was the application of a new principle in their construction, which 
would do away with the inconveniences of the loose frame hive with spaces 
around them that had to be filled up with bees to maintain the colony in a 
proper condition. This I accomplished by my section bee-hive, which is sim- 
ply the old square box hive, arranged so that it can be easily separated between 
each sheet of comb. It is composed of a series of vertical sections, which, 
when put together, form a box of themselves, and is perfectly adapted to the 
requirements of the bee. 

I have been enabled, on account of the'facilities its peculiar construction gave 
me for varying its shape and size almost indefinitely, and also for having it 
always in my power to observe the actions and works of the bees, to get it into 
a shape that takes advantage of all the natural instincts of the bee. In ac- 
complishing this I have used it in fifteen distinct combinations, and finally 
have discarded all of them except the two known as No. 1 and No. 15. 



Progressive Bee Culture. 



13 




ADAIR'S SECTION BEE-HIVE. 

Patented August 27, 1867. 

The No. 1 hive is composed of, first, the 
brood chamber, which is generally thirteen 
inches wide, fourteen and one-half inches 
long, and ten inches deep, inside measure- 
ment. It can be made of any size or dimen- 
sions, either way. For those who prefer it 
deeper (which I think unnecessary), it can be 
made narrower, so as to contain about the 
same space. The brood chamber is formed of 
nine vertical sections, or rims, each one and one-half inches wide. The top and 
bottom pieces are fourteen inches long, one and one-half inches wide; the side 
pieces are' ten inches long, and the same width, all of them one-half inch thick. 
They are nailed together, one nail in each corner, the top and bottom pieces 




Fig. 1. 




lJj- Progressive Bee Culture. 

to the ends of the side pieces, and projecting in front three-sixteenths of an 
inch, and setting back from the edge of the side pieces the same distance in 
the rear. 

"When two of these sections are placed together, the projections of one fit 
over the shoulders of the other, thus holding them true, horizontally. In 
addition to the nine sections, there are two other sections, or rather frames ; 
both of which are made of strips same thickness as the sections, one one-half 
an inch wide, in which is inserted a glass 10x14 inches; the other of pieces 
one-half inch wide, with a back of the full size of the frame nailed perma- 
nently on it, so that when one is placed on each end, the box is closed at both 
ends. The back is ordinarily of thin boards or lath, but 
for winter it is better to form it of a layer of straw held 
in the section by strips of lath nailed on the back of the 
section, and also on the inside, setting back one-half inch 
from the front, as shown in Fig. 2. The straw, A, is cut 
to go inside of the section crosswise, and after nailing on 
the strips at the back, the section is laid down and the 
straw placed evenly in it, so that when slightly pressed 
down by the inside strips, they will set back about one- 
half inch, leaving *the holes clear. It should not be 
pressed so heavily as to mash the straw, as the dead air 
in the cells is the best non-conductor, and it should be 
loose enough to permit a slow circulation of air, but not Fig. 2. 

a draft. A similar section should be prepared for the front, and at the ap- 
proach of winter the section containing the glass should be taken off, and the 
straw front substituted until spring. The straw will absorb any excess of 
moisture, and give all the ventilation necessary, even though every other hole 
be closed, while the bees will be kept warm. 

"When the nine sections, and back and front frames, are placed together, a 
side strip two inches wide, one-half inch thick, and fifteen inches long, is fast- 
ened on each side at the top, by a screw and two nails in the center section, 
leaving the other sections unfastened, so that they can be slipped out and in, 
without taking off the side strips, as formerly. As first constructed, there 
were four side strips, two on each side, but two are sufficient. The whole is 
held together by two wire hooks on each side, which hook over screw-heads in 
the center section, and also over screw-heads in the end sections. The cut 
represents but one continuous wire wrapped around a screw in the center sec- 
tion. It is better to have them separate, and to have them of different lengths, 
so that, when it is desired, the chamber may be contracted or enlarged by using 
shorter or longer hooks. 

As first constructed, the brood chamber had the back and glass put into the 
and section, which did not leave room to build comb in them of full thickness, 
end give room for the bees to pass outside of it. Since the addition of the 
shallow sections or frames on the ends, the bees build all of the comb perfect, 
without obstructing either of the end frames, and they can be removed readily 
by raising the hooks and slightly prying with a knife-blade. 

The back frame has two holes, three inches long, and half an inch wide, one 



Progressive Bee Culture. 



15 



and one-half inch from each end of the bottom and top pieces, and five inches 
apart, for entrance-holes, and passages to the honey-boxes. 

Square guides of wood, £x£ inch, are placed in the center of each top piece, 
with a corner or angle down. The bees do not fail to follow them once in fifty- 
times, and then only in case of weak or disorganized swarms. 

When pieces of honey comb can be had, four to eight inches long, and one 
inch or more in width, the guides may be left out, and the comb fastened to 
the sections, at the proper places, by first brushing on some hot melted resin, 
and, while warm, pressing the comb against it in proper position, which will 
fasten it tight. 

If you have not sufficient comb to put in all the sections, put it in every 
other one, or every third one, and place the wooden guides in the others. Any 
comb that is composed of worker cells will do, even if old and black. In cut- 
ting it up into strips, use a thick knife that will retain heat, and frequently dip 
into hot water, to keep it hot, and remove the wax that will accumulate on 
the blade. 



SECTION HONEY-BOX. 




Fig. 3. 

Second. The honey-boxes are formed of similar sections, only varying in 
size. The top and bottom pieces are six inches long ; the side pieces, five 
inches long, are put together in the same way, with the same number of sec- 
tions, and are of the same length as the broad chambers. The pieces are one- 
fourth of an inch thick. The back end is closed by a piece five and one-half 
inches square, sprigged to the top and bottom pieces of the end section. The 
front end is closed by a piece of glass 5x6 inches. One passage hole is cut 
in the front side of the top, and one in the bottom piece of the back section, 
three inches long and one and one-half inches from each end. Guides are 
used as in the brood-chamber, but it is better to use comb guides, as the wooden 
guides are in the way of cutting out the honey. 

Four honey-boxes are used on No. 1 hive. Two set on the brood-chamber, 
with the passage holes corresponding with the passage holes in the top of the 



16 



Progressive Bee Culture. 



brood-chamber; the other two are put on the top of the first two, with the 
passage holes corresponding. The top passage holes are closed by tacking 
oer them thin wooden strips. 

The bees pass through the lower tier of boxes to get to the others. Four 
boxes, of the size used, will hold about fifty-two pounds, or about one pound 
to the inch in length. The two end sections should be made of pieces two 
inches wide, to give room to build the comb and leave a passage around it, or 
narrow sections or frames should be added as in the brood-chamber, as shown 
in the cut figure 4. 



HONEY-BOX OPENED OUT. 




Fig. 4. 



All of the sections may be made two inches wide, in the honey-bopces, if 
comb guides are used; but if wooden guides, not over one and a half inches. 
It is better, however, to have all the sections uniformally one and a half 
inches wide, as the comb will always be built more perfect and straight in 
them. 

The bees enter from the back through grooves running under the brood- 
chamber, which they enter from the bottom, thence through the passage holes 
to the first tier of boxes, and through them to the second tier. They will 
work in the lower tier first; when they are half filled they are raised to the 
top and the top ones brought down and placed under them. This creates a 
vacancy between the stores of the hive, which the bees hasten to fill. By this 
means four boxes will be filled nearly as soon as two, thus nearly doubling the 
supply of honey. 

Third. The case is made of inch boards, sixteen inches square, and in No. 
1 hive is two feet high inside — the front closed by a door seventeen by 



Progressive Bee Culture. 17 

twenty-five inches. The door is one inch wider than the inside of the case, so 
as to shut against, instead of inside of, the jamb, to prevent a crack in dry- 
weather and its getting tight in damp, from shrinking and swelling. The 
bottom board is sixteen inches wide and nineteen inches long. The two side 
pieces are twenty-five inches long, one of them seventeen, the other eighteen 
inches wide, that the door may shut over one and be hung to the other, and 
are nailed to the ends of the bottom board, and also to the side of the back 
piece, which is sixteen inches wide and twenty-four inches long, all even at 
the top. The bottom board projects two inches at the back, for an alighting 
board, and is beveled off to shed the rain. It sets back one inch (the thick- 
ness of the door), from the front on one side, and even on the other. The 
entrance holes are cut into the bottom board one-half its thickness, three 
inches wide, and extending back five inches. They are five inches apart, and 
two and one-half inches from the ends, extending under the back of the case, 
and two inches further. A wooden strip, twelve inches long, three and one- 
half inches wide, and one-half inch thick, with two holes three inches long, 
one -half inch wide, one inch from the front and two from the back, one-half 
inch from the ends and five inches apart, is nailed over the holes in the bot- 
tom board, inside, against the back. The bees pass in under the back board 
and under this strip, to pass through the holes, which, when the brood- 
chamber is in place, will correspond with the entrance holes in its bottom. 
Two strips, one-half inch square, are nailed on the bottom board, from front 
to rear, twelve inches apart, so that their back ends come against the end of 
the entrance strip, just described, upon which the brood-chamber sets, and 
slides in and out, and which raises it up to the level of the entrance strip. Two 
other strips, one-half inch square and eighteen inches long, are nailed against 
the back board, inside, to keep the brood-chamber and honey boxes from 
going back to the back boards, for the purpose of leaving an air space be- 
tween them and the back, and the case being larger than the brood chamber 
on every side, the said air space extends all around as well as under it. These 
strips do not extend to the bottom by six inches, thus leaving a space for air 
to circulate around the brood-chamber. 

Ventilation of the case around the brood-chamber and honey-boxes is 
secured by boring a hole in the case between the two entrance-holes in the 
back board of the hive, one inch from the bottom, and another of same size 
one inch under the top board. These holes have nailed over them, on the 
inside of the case, pieces of wire cloth, or pieces of tin perforated with holes, 
so as to let the air pass, and at the same time exclude insects and vermin. 
The holes could be placed in any other side of the hive, but in the places 
named they will not admit light to the glass ends of the boxes. These holes 
are closed in cold weather by means of slides, or buttons hung on screws, so 
that they can be turned to cover them on the outside. 

The case is generally made of wood, but, unlike any other hive, it can be 
. built of bricks, concrete, adobe, lath and plaster, straw, stone, paper, and other 
material. "When built of brick it is substantial, durable, and comfortable to 
the bees; and when three cases are built, one on another, with the top neatly 
finished off and covered with vines, it becomes an ornament to the door-yard 
or flower garden. 



18 



Progressive Bee Culture. 




Fig. 5. 

THE No. 15, OR "NEW IDEA" HIVE. 

After what I have written hereinbefore, it is, perhaps, unnecessary to 
describe the peculiarities of this hive, as its features are incidentally given in 
connection with the theory upon which it is based. It is, however, only a 
new combination of the patented principles of my other hives, differing, how- 
ever, from them in being composed of a single continuous chamber, formed of 
sections, as described in the No. 1, and having the chamber resting on a bot- 
tom board, and inclosed by movable sides and top. 

No. 15 A is three feet long, and has the chamber formed of eleven full sec- 
tions, ten by fourteen inches, in which the brood-nest should be located. In the 
cut (Fig. 5) is shown the parts of the chamber unhooked and opened. B and 
Cshow nine of the brood sections, while two others are shown attached to A 
and D, The part A is composed of twenty sections, one-quarter the size of 
those in the brood-nest, each five by seven inches, four of them occupying the 
room of one large one. They are nested into one of the brood sections and 
hooked together, forming four honey-boxes, with no division between them 
and the brood-nest. 

D shows a corresponding compound section, formed of sections half-size. 
It is not intended by the arrangement of the cut to convey the idea that this 
combination of quarter and half sections is always used, but to show that, 
notwithstanding the hive is a unit, having really only one apartment, any 
desired or desirable size of section or box can be used without interfering with 
its unity. For the Melextractor, I construct the whole hive of full sections, 
but as, with a proper hive like this, it is more profitable to secure box honey 
than extracted, I use but few hives in that way. 



Progressive Bee Culture. 19 



The quarter sections, when filled with honey, weigh from two to two and 
one-half pounds each; the halves a little over double that, or about five 
pounds, giving room for one hundred pounds of honey; but as it is not ad- 
visable, a9 stated elsewhere, to let the bees at any time entirely fill the hive, 
all the full sections should be removed when the bees commence work on the 
last ones, which generally, in a hive of this size, amounts to about sixty 
pounds at a time. 

The partly filled sections should be pushed back next to the brood, and the 
ends filled out with empty ones. 

The No. 15 B hive is six inches longer than A, and turns out about one 
hundred pounds at a time. No. 15 C has six inches more added to its length, 
and will yield one hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty pounds each 
filling. They only differ from No. A in having greater capacity. 

Taking the honey in this way has no tendency to check the bees in their 
work, as is the case when top-boxes are removed, but has, on the contrary, the 
effect to increase their industry. When surplus honey is stored in apartments 
or boxes separated from the main cluster, it is frequently the case that the bees 
fail to renew their labors in the empty ones with which they are replaced, and 
they seldom do so for some length of time. 

The position of the entrance of the hive in one end and broadside the 
comb-sheets, will be objected to by many who have no experience with hives 
so constructed, but it is the most important point in the construction of the 
hive. In my first efforts at controlling swarming, I placed the entrance-holes 
in the middle of the hive on the side, and although I gave abundant room in 
the same shape as at present, swarming was retarded but little, from the fact 
that the brooding of the queen near or at the middle of the hive soon pushed 
a part of the cluster out at the entrance. 

"When I ascertained the true cause of swarming (as I think I have), as 
given here, but more fully in a paper read before the North American Bee- 
keepers' Society, at Cleveland, I was not long in correcting this only defect in 
the hive, by changing the entrance to one end. A thorough trial of the hive 
thus arranged has resulted in no instance in swarming. Having entrances in 
both ends has not been so satisfactory, besides which it makes it inconvenient 
to manipulate the hive. 

I do not claim that this hive will of itself prevent swarming, but by a little 
attention and care it will be found to accomplish that long desired object. If 
a natural swarm be put into a No. 15 hive, it will be found that they will most 
generally cluster at the end over the entrance, and consequently the brood- 
nest will be established there, the result of which will be a swarm almost, if 
not quite, as soon as from an ordinary hive of 2,000 cubic inches. For that 
reason, when a swarm is hived in it, the chamber should have both ends taken 
off, and should be contracted to nine or ten sections, with the ends closed with 
the glazed end sections. "When the contracted chamber is one-half or two- 
thirds filled with comb, which may be easily known by looking through the 
glass, additions of a part or the whole of the removed sections should be 
made to each end. The brood-nest will thus be established in the center, and 
will continue there during the season, unless interfered with by the bee-keeper, 
and the ends will be filled out with the purest of comb-honey, and no swarm 
will issue so long as the bees have room to work in the ends, and the hive is 
managed as indicated hereinbefore. 



20 



Progressive Bee Culture. 



BEE FEEDERS. 

Many efforts have been made to get up some arrangement by which bees 
can be conveniently fed, and a number of them have been patented. None 
of them answer the purpose perfectly, as they do not reach the cluster of bees 
and in cold weather are useless. In connection with the Section Bee-Hive, I 
have perfected an arrangement by which all the difficulties are overcome. 

The accompaning cut, Fig. 6, is a represen- 
tation of it. A hole or mortice, B, is cut in the 
top piece or bar of a brood-chamber section, 
about six inches long and one inch wide. Into 
this hole is fitted the box A, the ends of which 
are wood, the sides and bottom of No. 10 wire- 
cloth tacked to the wooden ends. A bag of 
coarse domestic cotton of the size and shape of 
the box, with a wire bent around the top a little _-=&. 
larger than the hole, to which the cotton bag is =llfk| 
fastened, is put into the box and filled with ^ 
honey or syrup. Under the box is placed a Fi 9- 6 - 

wooden trough to catch any food that may run through faster than the bees 
take it. The cut represents the box as setting in the trough, but it is better to 
leave a space of one-half inch between them. If the cotton be thick and 
closely woven, the trough is useless, as the honey will not run through except 
as the bees suck it. The space around and below the feeder should be fitted 
with empty worker-comb, by cutting it in the proper shape and fastening it 
in with melted resin. For summer feeding, one section maybe taken off next 
to the glass and the feeder section substituted, which may be done without 
interfering with the honey-boxes. For winter feeding it should be placed in 
the center of the brood-chamber. 




ITALIAN BEES. 

The superiority of the Italian over the common bee of the country is now 
generally admitted by all who have tried them. 

I have no queens for sale except as follows : For single queen in nucleus 
hive and small colony of bees (which can, by proper management, be built up 
into a good colony, or if the queen be taken out to put in another colony, will 
rear another queen), with fertilizing arrangement attached, including my 
triangular nursery-cage, and also drone and queen-trap, or swarm-arrester, 
making a complete outfit for queen-rearing, with a sufficient number of 
drones, $12. 

I guarantee their safe arrival and purity. I will not be responsible for 
their safety if not promptly taken from the express office within twenty-four 
hours after arrival. I notify all parties, several days in advance, of the time 
of shipment. 

If bees do not arrive in good living order purchasers will notify me at 
once, stating particulars, that I may send another queen. 



Progressive Bee Culture. 



21 




ADAIR'S MELIPULT. 

This machine consists of a cen- 
tral spindle, set in a base that is 
screwed fast to the floor or a wide 
board. The gearing is placed on 
the top of this spindle, and by- 
turning the crank, the suspended 
arms are made to revolve around 
the spindle as rapidly as is neces- 
sary. On a hook on the end of 
each arm is hung a peculiarly- 
shaped bucket of tin, over which 
is laid a frame of wire cloth. 

The honey-comb is laid on the 

wire cloth. When the machine 

is put in motion, the Jbuckets are 

thrown out and change from a 

horizontal to a vertical position 

and the honey is discharged into 

the buckets. The buckets are 

easily detached from the machine 

to be emptied of the honey. 

No fastenings are necessary to hold the comb in place, and a number of 

small pieces may be laid on at one time, and will retain their relative positions, 

however rapidly the machine is operated. 

All of the honey extractors heretofore constructed, place the comb in a ver- 
tical position, with the walls of the cells horizontal, and only use the centrifu- 
gal force in expelling the honey. My machine brings to bear two forces, viz: 
gravity and the centrifugal force. The honey is held in the cells by capillary 
attraction and cohesion. When the honey is thin, but little force is required to 
overcome the force that thus retains it in the cells; if very thin, the honey 
will be drawn out by gravitation alone, if the comb is placed in a horizontal 
position. If the honey be thicker, and the cohesive force stronger than gravi- 
tation, as soon as the machine is put in motion, the centrifugal force begins to 
act, and is added to the force of gravity, and when enough of the former is 
added to the latter, the honey is ejected. 

It is a law of physics that when two forces act upon the same body at the 
same time and in different directions, as it can not move in two directions at 
the same time, it takes a direction between the two, and the course it takes is 
called the resultant motion. 

Let A C, in the figure below, represent the direction of gravitation, and 
A B that of the centrifugal force. While the machine is at rest, the only 
force acting on the honey is gravitation, in the direction A C vertically. As 
soon as the machine is put in motion, the centrifugal force begins to act 



m 



Progressive Bee Culture. 




horizontally. When the velocity of the machine is such as to bring into 
action a centrifugal force, equal to the force of gravity, the resultant motion 
of the honey, if ejected, would be in the direction of the line A Z>, or at an 
angle of forty-five degrees. When the centrifugal force is double the force of 
gravity, the resultant motion will be in the direction A E, at an angle of 
sixty-seven and one-half degrees ; when quadruple, in the direction A F, 
at an angle of seventy-eight and three-fourths . 
degrees; and so on, in the same ratio, that is 
every time the centrifugal force is doubled the 
course of the resultant motion divides the space 
between its last line and the line of the centrifu- 
gal force, or true horizontal line A B, but never 
becomes entirely horizontal ; or, in other words, 
the centrifugal force, acting horizontally, never 
entirely overcomes the force of gravity. 

In all honey extractors in which the comb is 
placed in a fixed position, with the walls of the 
cells horizontal, when we apply these physical laws to them, we find this con- 
dition to exist; when sufficient of the centrifugal force is brought into action, 
to overcome the capillary cohesion, the resultant line of motion is diagonal to 
the cells, and there is only thrown out of the cells so much honey as is above 
the line of resultant motion, if drawn so as to touch the lower lip or margin 
of the cell. But in my extractor the cells are always in the line of resultant 
motion, and at that point are suddenly and completely emptied. 

The accompanying diagram will show my meaning: a b a b represent the 
cells to be emptied, the lines c c the direction of resultant motion. All the 
honey above those lines at a a will be ejected, 
but all below at b b will be retained. As the 
velocity of the machine is increased, more 
honey is expelled, small particles at a tirne> 
like a fine mist or spray; but as the force of 
gravity is never entirely overcome, it will 
hold some of the honey in the cells to the 
last, which the centrifugal force can never 
draw out. 

My Melipult will completely empty the 
honey with half the motion required by 
any other, and consequently without breaking down the comb, and as the 
honey is all or nearly all emptied from the cells at once it has less air bubbles 
and froth in it, and keeps better. 

The machine is all iron, except the buckets, which are of tin. 

There is no wood about it to get sour or dirty. 

The black grease from the gearing can not fall into the honey. 

It is light, only weighing about twenty-eight pounds, and can be carried 
about with one hand, and shipped for small freight. 

It will empty small pieces of comb, as many as can be laid on at one time. 

By having buckets made for the purpose, say eight inches square and deep, 




\, 



^C 



^? 



Progressive Bee Culture. 23 



with a shallow bucket for each four inches deep, with wire-cloth bottom, to 
set inside of the deeper ones, and extend half way to the bottom, in which a 
cloth can be laid, we have a perfect filter, that by pouring dirty honey into it, 
and revolving rapidly, will force all the pure honey through, leaving the im- 
purities behind. It can be used also in purifying other liquids, and answers 
an admirable purpose in extracting the juices from berries and other fruits for 
making jelly, as it leaves no taste of the cloth, as is usually the case when 
fruit juice is strained through linen or cotton. 



Pf\ice List for 1872. 



HIVES, EIGHTS, AND TEEEITOEY. 

Deed of individual right to make and use any number of hives by one 

person and in one place, $5 00 

Individual right to use honey-boxes only, 3 00 

Eight and hive, No. ISA,." . . . . . . . . 10 00 

Eight and a sample No. 1 hive, 8 00 

County rights from $25 to $100. Township rights, $10 to $25. 

Any person selling enough rights in his precinct, township, county, or 
State, to amount to the price of the same, and sending me the money, shall 
receive a deed to the territory. 

OFFER EXTEAOEDINAEY. 

With a view to introducing my hive into every county in the United States, 
I will sell to the first applicant from each county, one township, precinct, or 
civil district corresponding to a township, by whatever name called, provided 
it does not exceed one-fifth of a county in population, for the sum of $10, and 
send a No. 15 sample hive for $4. This is a chance for several persons in such 
a district to club together and get the right very cheap. 

ANOTHEE OFFER. 

Any person sending me $25 will have sent to him an individual right for 
himself, and full power of attorney authorizing him to sell as many individual 
rights as he pleases, in his county, during the year 1872, and retain all the 
proceeds, and the privilege of buying the county at the end of that time with 
a deduction of $25, and a sample No. 1 hive will be sent without extra charge; 
$2 extra for No. 15. 

Sample hives will be sent at the following prices. Persons not owning 
rights must add fifty cents for trade mark: 



2Jf Progressive Bee Culture. 

No. 1 hive, with four honey-boxes, . $4 50 

No. 15 A, :' 6 00 

No. 15 B, 6 50 

No. 15 C, 7 00 

Nucleus hive, 2 00 

Nucleus hive, with fertilizer for fertilizing queens in confinement, with 

drone trap and triangular queen cage, 3 00 

Drone and queen trap, 50 

Queen cage, triangular, pronounced by all the best apiculturists of the 

country the best thing out, 25 

Per dozen, 2 00 

Section bee feeder, 50 

Adair's Melipult, 14 00 

Honey trowel for uncapping sealed honey, 75 

Saccharometer, 1 75 

Atomizer, 1 75 

For fuller list of prices and material, see Charles Tinius' advertisement on 
last page of cover. 

BOOKS— By Mail, Postpaid. 

The Annals of Bee Culture for 1869, $0 50 

" « " " 1870, 50 

" " " " 1871-2 50 

Progressive Bee Culture, 25 

BEE JOUENALS. 

American Bee Journal, $2 00 

Bee Keepers' Journal and Natural Agriculturist, .... 1 00 

National Bee Journal, . . . . . . . . 2 00 

The three 4 00 

Money may be sent by express or post-office money order (on Cannelton, 
Indiana), or in registered letter, if inclosed in r the presence of the postmaster 
at my risk. 

No article will be sent C. O. D. 

Plain directions should be given how the packages are to be marked, and 
by what route to be sent ; and also whether by express or as freight. 

When choice of route is left to me, I will use my best judgment, but in all 
cases the articles are at the purchaser's risk after shipment. 

I will correct any mistakes, but will not hold myself bound to do so, if 
notice is not sent within ten days after receipt of the goods. 

"Write your name, post-office, county, and State plainly. 

In writing, please send me the names of all enterprising bee-keepers, of your 
acquaintance. 

Persons writing letters for information or inquiry should send stamp to pay 
return postage. I will take pleasure in giving any information in my posses- 
sion, if asked for, and such inquiries as are of general interest I will answer 
through the " Apiary " department of the Southern Farmer, published at 
Memphis, Tennessee. 

Address all letters to D. L. ADAIK, 

Hawesville, Hancock Co., Kt. 



THE SACCHAROMETER. 

Much of the honey taken by the Melipult is too thin to keep, and it is important to have 
some means of testing whether it is dense enough. The Saccharometer is an instrument that 
has been long in use for testing syrups, molasses, and the mush in sugar making. It is a glass 
tube with a bulb on the lower end of it loaded with fine shot, graduated so that in pure water 
it sinks to zero (0°). As the density is increased by any substance in solution with water, the 
instrument floats higher. In thin honey it will sometimes mark not more than 25° to 30°. That is 
too thin'and will sour. To be certain that it will keep it should indicate 38° to 42°. Honey that is 
below this standard may be mixed with that above, until the proper density is attained. Many 
boil the thin honey, and some recommend heating all of it to make it keep, hut any heat applied 
to honey injures it by driving off the aroma, which is very volatile, and dealers in honey will 
not buj' it. 

Thick and thin honey, when put together, will not mix without being stirred. The thin 
will float on top. 

The Saccharometer is an indispensable implement to every bee-keeper who extracts his 
honey. I can furnish them by express, at SI. 75 each. 



THE ODORATOR, OR, ATOMIZER. 

This is a little instrument, belonging originally to the ladies' toilet, and used by barbers and 
perfumers. By simply squeezing an India-rubber ball, any liquid perfume that may be used is 
thrown out in a fine spray or mist. It answers an admirable purpose in sprinkling bees in many 
of the manipulations necessary to successful bee culture. It can be used instead of smoke in 
opening hives, by spraying the bees with sweetened perfumed water. It is useful in uniting bees, 
as by its use it is an easy matter to give all of them the same scent. 

• It is a perfect success in introducing queens, as by its use the colony, as well as ' queen 
to be introduced, can be sprayed with anise, mint, or any other perfume, and the que j t loose 
immediately without danger to her. It is no inconvenience to the bees, as are all ths o dinary 
ways of sprinkling them. 

I can furnish them by express at 31.75 each. 



WHAT 'S ITS NAME. 

The machine for separating the honey from the comb has gone by many names, but as yet 
none has been universally received. Honey Machine is indefinite. Honey Emptying Machine is 
inconvenient. The proposition to call it Hmschlca receives but little favor. Honey Slinger savors 
of slang. Melextractor, as proposed by the French, has been adopted most generally, but I con- 
ceive that it is an improper name, as the honey is not extracted or drawn out, but is thrown or 
driven out, or expelled. I have, therefore, given the name Melipult to my machine, as it 
expels or throws out the honey from the comb, and does not extract or draw it out. The Cata- 
pult was an ancient war engine used for throwing stones. 

The Hydropult is a small engine used for throwing water. Why not then use the name 
Melipult to describe a machine for throwing honey from the comb ? 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



CHAELES TI2T 002 841 656 8 * 

CLOVERPORT, BRECKINRIDGE CO., KENTUCKY, 

IM -A-ZETTJ PACTTJBES 

ADAIR'S SECTION BEE-HIVES OF ALL STYLES, 

And furnishes material, cut ready for nailing together, for hives and honey boxes. 



Price List tor 187S. 

No. 1 SLive, each $* 50 

No. 15 A., Contimiotis Chamber, 21 Sections in Length 6 00 

No. IS B, 25 Sections 6 SO 

No. 15 C, 29 Sections 7 00 

When ten or more are ordered, a discount of ten per cent, will be made ; twenty-five or more, 
a discount of fifteen per cent, will be made ; fifty or more, on special terms. 

Material. 

Lumber material, for No. 1 hive, complete, including case, brood chamber and boxes, cut 
ready for nailing, and packed in quantities of ten to twenty-five hives, per hive, $2.50 ; over 
twenty-five, five per cent, discount; over fifty, ten per cent, discount. Lumber material for No. 
15 A, complete, $3.25; No. 15 B, $3.(i0 ; No. 15 C, $4; with the same discount as on No. 1. 

Material cut ready for nailing, and packed in barrels or crates, for all the movable inside 
work of No. 1 or No. 15 A, including sections, guides, and strips, in packages of ten or more, $1 
each. For a less number ten per cent, will be added for extra packing. Add 15 cents for B, 
and 30 cents for C. 

Lumber material for honey boxes, nine full sections, 5 by 6 or 5 by 7, two end sections, 
back and guides, in lots not less than fifty boxes, 15 cents each ; one hundred to five hundred 
boxes, 14 cents each; five hundred or more, 12% cents each. If the wooden guides are not 
wanted, deduct fifteen per cent. 

Box stuff for any size box in the same proportion, and a sample box ready made will be sent 
with each lot ordered. In ordering, state length of box needed, so that side strips maybe cut 
the right length. All sections will be cut one and one-half inches wide, unless otherwise ordered. 
Extra width in same proportion. 

Wire hooks for-brood chamber, per one dozen, two of each size, from No. 1 to No. 6, 15 
cents; No. 4, per dozen, 15 cents ; No. 5 or 6, per dozen, 20 cents. Spiral hooks for sides or 
doors, per dozen, 25 cents ; per one hundred, $1.50. 

Persons not owning rights must add 50 cents on each hive for trade-marks, or send $5 with 
the order for an individual right to use the hive and honey boxes, or $3 for honey-box right. 

Nucleus hive for queen raising, $2. 

Nucleus hive with fertilizer, for fertilizing queens in confinement, with drone trap, trian- 
gular queen cage and feeder, $3. 

Drone and queen trap, 50 cents. 

Queen cage, triangular, answers all the purposes of a queen nursery, 25 cents each, or $2 
per dozen. 

Section bee feeder, 50 cents. 

Money may be sent by express, or in registered letter, or post-office money order on Cannel- 
ton, Indiana. 

Plain directions should be given how packages are to be marked, and by what route to be 
sent, and whether by express or freight. 

All articles are at purchaser's risk after shipment. 

Nothing sent* C. O. D. 

CHARLES TINITIS, 

Cloverport, Breckinridge Co., Kentucky. 



